Nicole+Bendrich



__SHAMPOO__ Have you ever wondered what chemical is in shampoo that makes your hair clean?? Well I was thinking about this randomly today and decided to look into it further. Here’s what I found: There are sebaceous glands around the root of your hair that secrete an oily substance called sebum, which protect your hair from drying out. Sebum attracts dirt, and if you wash your hair with water only, your hair will not be clean. This is because oil and water do not mix. Surfactants are the cleaning agent used in shampoo. Surfactant molecules have a hydrophilic end, which is attracted to water, and a hydrophobic end, which is repelled by water but attracted to oils. The surfactant helps separate the oil molecules so they are no longer attracted to each other. The surfactant also acts as a bridge between the oil and water molecules so that the dirty sebum can be washed away with the water. All shampoos strip away the sebum from the hair, however the sebum is important for protecting hair shafts. Shampoos must therefore contain an ingredient that replaces the sebum. Silicones like Dimethicone are used as replacements. The hair shaft is covered with translucent cells that overlap each other like roof shingles. In damaged hair these shingles are rough. Dimethicone can smooth the shingles, changing hair's reflective properties. This makes hair nice and shiny!! :) Jungwl, M. (2009, July 7). //How Shampoo works//. Retrieved from http://everyday-chemistry.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_shampoo_works   __Third-Hand Smoke__  I’m sure that everyone has heard that smoking, as well as second-hand smoke are dangerous, but is third-hand smoke dangerous too?

Third-hand smoke is when the toxins from tobacco fumes stay on everyday surfaces.

A research team was formed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, USA. This team placed a block of cellulose into a smoker’s truck for three days, and then analyzed it. They found that the gases in the truck reacted with the nicotine residue, only to create tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNA), which are known to be carcinogenic. NNN, NNK, and NNA are TSNA’s that were formed in the reaction.

Mohamed Sleiman, one of the researchers, made the following statement: “Given the rapid sorption and persistence of high levels of nicotine on indoor surfaces, including clothing and human skin, our findings indicate that third-hand smoke represents an unappreciated health hazard through dermal exposure, dust inhalation and ingestion.”

Smoking outside is not much of an improvement when it comes to smoking. Lara Gundel, another researcher explains: “Smoking outside is better than smoking indoors but nicotine residues will stick to a smoker’s skin and clothing. Those residues follow a smoker back inside and get spread everywhere. The biggest risk is to young children. Dermal uptake of the nicotine through a child’s skin is likely to occur when the smoker returns and if nitrous acid is in the air, which it usually is, then TSNA’s will be formed.” It seems as though third-hand smoke is a potential cancer risk, but for now we do not know how big the risk is.

Here's a brief video about third-hand smoke: media type="youtube" key="PXu8PZxo55U" height="344" width="425" Brindley, L. (2010, February 8). //Cancer risk from 'third-hand smoke'//. Retrieved from http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2010/February/080210 //Carcinogens form from third-hand smoke//. (2010, February 10). Retrieved from http://www.impactlab.com/2010/02/10/carcinogens-form-from-third-hand-smoke/ //How Dangerous is third-hand smoke?//. (2010, February 8). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXu8PZxo55U

__Sleep Disorders__ People all over the world suffer from sleep disorders. Approximately 1% of the world’s population is affected by RBD (REM sleep behavior disorder), and 3% are affected by OSA (obstructive sleep apnea). Some scientists believe that chemical imbalances in the brain are what cause the disorders. The reason of this speculation is that people with MSA, Multiple System Atrophy, suffer from both disorders. Researchers decided to observe people with MSA for two nights in a row, and measure the levels of two important brain chemicals: dopamine, and acetylcholine. They found that when dopamine was lower, the RBD became worse; and when the acetylcholine was lower, the OSA became worse. These results may lead researchers to better treatments, and they may let them find the cause of the disorders. However, since the test was only done on people with MSA, the results don’t prove that there is a direct link between the chemical levels and the severity of the disorder in normal people. This is why scientists are planning on looking for people who don’t have MSA, but have these sleeping disorders, and then conducting this test with them. Lurie, K. (2007, March). //Sleep and brain chemistry//. Retrieved from http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?type=article&article_id=218392013

__Fireworks__ There are two ways to produce the colors in fireworks, incandescence and luminescence. Incandescence is light produced by heat, whereas luminescence is light produced using energy sources other than heat. Heat causes substances to become hot and glow. They emit infrared, then as it gets hotter red, orange, yellow and white light. This means that you can control the temperature of the firework to get your desired color. Some elements used to increase the temperature of fireworks are aluminum, magnesium and titanium, since they burn very brightly.  To produce luminescence, energy must be absorbed by an electron from a molecule or atom, causing it to become excited and unstable. The electron then returns to a lower energy state, and is released in the form of a photon. The energy of the photon determines its color. The table below shows the color produced, and the compounds that can produce this color: lithium carbonate, Li2CO3= red strontium carbonate, SrCO3 = bright red || calcium chloride, CaCl2 calcium sulfate, CaSO4 ** · ** xH2O, where x = 0,2,3,5 || sodium nitrate, NaNO3 cryolite, Na3AlF6 || barium oxide, BaO || barium chloride, BaCl+ = bright green || copper acetoarsenite (Paris Green), Cu3As2O3Cu(C2H3O2)2 = blue copper (I) chloride, CuCl = turquoise blue || Helmenstine, A.M. (2009, November 2). //Chemistry of firework colors//. Retrieved from http://chemistry.about.com/od/fireworkspyrotechnics/a/fireworkcolors.htm **__Chemical Tests__ **  A fast, simple, inexpensive method for determining whether chemicals in products or workplaces may cause allergies in people has been reported by scientists. This method does not involve the use of animals. :)
 * ** Color ** || ** Compound ** ||
 * Red || strontium salts, lithium salts
 * Orange || calcium salts
 * Gold || incandescence of iron (with carbon), charcoal, or lampblack ||
 * Yellow || sodium compounds
 * Electric White || white-hot metal, such as magnesium or aluminum
 * Green || barium compounds + chlorine producer
 * Blue || copper compounds + chlorine producer
 * Purple || mixture of strontium (red) and copper (blue) compounds ||
 * Silver || burning aluminum, titanium, or magnesium powder or flakes ||

In the past, animals have been used to determine whether ingredients in consumer products and chemicals may cause skin sensitization and dermatitis. Chemicals that cause dermatitis bond with proteins in the skin, and then aggravate the immune system.

The current chemical tests use substances such as glutathione that mimic skin proteins, and bond to allergy-causing ingredients. None of the chemicals are suitable for use in detecting the critical early stages of skin sensitization. Instead of glutathione, this new method uses nitrobenzenethiol as the skin protein substitute. When this substance was used on 20 different chemicals, which are known to cause skin irritation, the test results all proved to be positive. Negative results only occurred when the test substances did not produce skin sensitization. Hogan,. (2010, May 26). //Better animal-free test for chemicals that can cause contact dermatitis//. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100526124717.htm

__**STICKY RICE MORTAR!!!!! :)**__ <span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #333333; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: normal;"> <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 13pt;">In ancient China, construction workers developed a sticky rice mortar about 1500 years ago by mixing sticky rice soup with the standard mortar ingredient. The standard mortar ingredient is simply limestone that has been calcined, or heated to a high temperature, and then exposed to water. Also, mortar is a paste used to bind and fill gaps between bricks, stone blocks and other construction materials. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 13pt;">This mortar was stronger and more resistant to water than pure lime mortar. Construction workers used it to construct important buildings that are still around today. Some of the structures have withstood the effects of bulldozers and earthquakes. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 13pt;">After much research, amylopectin, a complex carbohydrate that is found in rice or other starchy foods, appears to be responsible for the mortar’s strength. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 13pt;">Analytical studies have proven that the mortar is a special kind of organic-inorganic composite material. The inorganic component is the calcium carbonate, whereas the organic part is the amylopectin. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 13pt;">Scientists prepared lime mortars with varying levels of sticky rice, and test their performance to traditional lime mortar. The test results showed that the sticky rice/lime mortar’s properties are more stable, it has greater mechanical strength and is more compatible with substances.

The picture below shows some very yummy looking sticky rice!! :):):) <span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;"> Hogan, . (2010, May 29). //Revealing the ancient chinese secret of sticky rice mortar//. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100530093704.htm